I was at one of the Utah temples recently and decided to grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria. I was surprised to see a sign that said only credit cards will be accepted starting October 1. I wonder why that is. Credit cards charge a 2-3% fee per transaction, so it seems a little strange. Is it too hard to reconcile cash at the end of the day? Are cashiers taking money from the till? Are people passing counterfeit bills? I know that large retailers like Wal-mart have a problem with counterfeit bills. Honestly, if someone gave me a counterfeit bill, I probably wouldn’t notice and just pass it on. I was told by the cashier that temples church-wide are only going to accept credit cards, no cash. Is that true? Any insight on this?
No More Cash at Temples?
Are temples going cash-less? (Photo by Pixabay from Pexels)
Wheat & Tares 
I believe that is credit and debit cards.
Honestly, it’s probably just for simplicity.
Using cash actually has a decent amount of overhead since you need to have a bunch of change on hand at all times, you need to have a safe and proper processes/employees for storing the money securely, and you have to make frequent trips to the bank to deposit the cash again.
Card payments, on the other hand, are totally computerized. Some farmer’s market stands or that type of home-grown sellers only take card, and although they have to turn away people that for whatever reason only have cash, it’s secure and simple.
Many people will not be happy to hear this, but the LDS Church (TM) is one of the largest preparators for the One World Order. This is one more step in grooming Mormons in particular into accepting the cashless paradigm.
For thus saith the Lord, that those whose finances be not in order and have not the proper credit in accordance with the worldly financial institutions, and thus have not acquired by the hand of the financial institution a checking account nor a debit or credit card shall not procure vestments from the house of the Lord.
For thus saith the Lord, that those whose finances be not in order and have not the proper credit in accordance with the worldly financial institutions, and thus have not acquired by the hand of the financial institution a checking account nor a debit or credit card shall not procure vestments from the house of the Lord.
When I visited the Frankfurt temple years ago, I was surprised to see that there was no money exchanged in the temple itself. If you needed to rent clothing, for example, you would buy a voucher from a desk clerk in one of the nearby Church office buildings, then take it inside the temple to redeem it for the clothing. I didn’t know if this was done for security reasons, European cultural reasons or biblical reasons (Jesus being not too fond of having money changed in His father’s house and all of that).
But if cashless temples are being adopted worldwide, it seems like more of a practical consideration than anything else.
Another reason to go cashless is that it is much faster and less hassle.
Aaron, is the One World Order the same thing as the “New World Order”? I tried to Google the former, and the results were all for the latter.
OP, I don’t know, but I believe this change would most likely be for convenience. Things like carrying a bag of cash to and from the bank, miscounting change, basically all the reasons mentioned by JanPaul Bergeson, above, are what I would think are the motivating factors.
Our temple does not have a cafeteria, or rent clothes, so no change. You are spoilt.
I was always under the impression that it was illegal for a company to refuse cash. Cash is legal tender. Can’t be turned down. But I guess I was wrong?
JC, I am not a lawyer, but I believe that is a common misconception. People, businesses, etc., can refuse business typically for any reason, or even for no reason, as long as it isn’t a prohibited reason, such as illegal discrimination. Providing legal tender is not a prohibited reason.
The matter of legal tender probably only holds power if you are paying debt. If you owe on a debt, the creditor can probably be obligated by a court to either accept the cash or forgive the debt. But this is different than refusing to accept the cash for transaction in the first place, where the debt is never incurred.
This same logic means vending machines don’t have to take 10 dollar bills, restaurants don’t have to accept $100 bills, etc.
How much would clothing rental or food at the temple cost per month or year? I hear about wealthy members who fly in LDS celebrities for youth firesides or sponsor BYU ambassadors or other famous LDS performers all the time. Couldn’t a generous sponsor cover all laundry in a temple or food (Simple fare- prepared by volunteers) for those working for a year instead?
Missionaries are probably one of the biggest consumers of laundry, but it’s not that much (approx 60k missionaries x 4 weeks at the MTC x $3 per session is roughly 3/4 of a million, but only approximately $12 per missionary). That sounds like a lot, but it’s really not in context of a multi-billion dollar church. Our local small temple has no laundry, I’m assuming most do not. Honestly- for that matter, why can’t laundry expenses (Staffed by volunteers) come out of temple operating costs? Either way, there’s got to be a way to get rid of money exchange in the temples.
We’ve been asked to bring our own clothes and do our own laundry as much as possible. When that isn’t possible, laundry is there. Will people abuse free laundry and get lazy? Maybe. I’d like to think not. If we can’t even trust each other in this very small thing- involving a small threshold of integrity in our highest form of worship, we are seriously never going to figure out the united order. Never, ever, ever.
My brother told me he found the following things very disturbing about his temple experience, especially considering the importance placed on worthiness interviews:
1. Locks and keys to protect personal property
2. The exchanging of cash in the temple
3. Being charged payment for food and/or rental of clothing
He said he felt that since temple patrons pay 10% of their income in tithes plus additional in offerings that these things should be provided freely as part of a United Order experience. How can the church expect members to move toward ‘all things in common’ when such contradictory practices are in place? His comments made me really stop and think……
I haven’t heard anything about this change. The temple in Toronto is cash only for clothing rental. No debit. No credit cards. The cafeteria only has vending machines which last time I checked only take cash. I wouldn’t mind being able to use my debit card at the temple which would be more convenient.
As to the things that bothered Skydadl’s brother about the temple:
My family and I have left things at the temple, before. One time, my wife left her engagement ring and her wedding ring in her temple locker. We got back to the temple as soon as we realized our mistake, and the rings, worth a fair amount of money, were still there! Nice, uplifting experience.
Not so nice experience: when we lived in Thailand, in a place and time when good jewelry was cheap, my wife took off a nice necklace at church, to play with the kids in nursery. She put it to the side. And forgot about it. When we went back to look for it, it was gone. Not in lost and found. I think we made someone’s day!
Church members, even holders of temple recommends, are human and display the full range of nasty behaviors that non-recommend holders do. A temple recommend establishes that someone has answered the questions correctly, whether truthfully or falsely, to allow him or her to enter the temple. That’s it. Nothing else. A temple recommend is not a sign of a good person. Good things happen in the temple, but they are done by people of varying degrees of good and bad. That is life and it is not going to change.
I fail to understand the complaint about charging for food and laundry. The costs are nominal, I.e. they are subsidized and do not meet the expenses that the Church incurs in providing them.
Exchanging of cash at temple:when I present a $20 bill for clothing rental, I get about $14 in change. When I eat lunch in the cafeteria, it costs me about $5, and I pay the money. I am sorry that Skydadl’s brother is bothered by this, but it is not like selling offerings on ancient temples to worshipers for a profit. It is levying a nominal fee for services that cost the Church more than what we pay. These services are heavily subsidized, and my payment of a nominal fee does not bother me in the least.
Boy, I tell ya! Big changes are afoot! Get your rest! Eat your vitamin pills! We thank thee O God for a prophet!
Simple explanation: they’re just removing the money-changing from the temple. Been done before…
There was a time 30 years ago or so when the Mesa Temple would only accept cash and would not under any conditions accept credit cards. The temple president made it clear buying things or renting them on credit was almost immoral. My how false cultural traditions changeover time
Bellamy, Larry, and OP
I’m inclined to think that a lot of these sorts of differences are down to the whims of the the temple presidents. One finds the use of credit cards to be immoral, another doesn’t like that cash feels too much like money changers in the temple… but so long as there are services to be paid for, then there has to be some means of paying. The restriction to credit/debit cards presupposes that all patrons have access to those financial tools however.
skdadyl: Interesting idea that we should have an honor system with the lockers rather than having locks on them! Actually, your comment reminded me of when I visited the Masjid Sultan Mosque in Singapore. When you go to a mosque, you have to leave your shoes on a rack with the shoes of all the other patrons, all out in the open. I left my very American style Nike flip flops on the rack. When I came back they were gone. Just gone. I asked someone standing there who said, “Oh, someone probably just borrowed them for a minute. I’m sure they will be back.” I wasn’t upset due to cost, but dang if it’s not inconvenient standing there in bare feet. I couldn’t just walk to the MRT from there in bare feet, and was I supposed to take a train home in bare feet?? I had waited so long for the mystery person to return that I really considered walking a block away to find a shop selling any kind of footwear just so I could leave. Finally, about 25 minutes later, a man came out from doing his ablutions around the corner wearing my flip-flops! So while I was polite, it was exasperating.
Angela,
Talking about shoes and the temple. At my wedding, in the SLC LDS temple, my father left his expensive Sunday shoes as is custom in the visitor shoe area. When he returned someone had taken his shoes. But in its place had left a pair of white Temple Shoes. He had to walk around the remainder of the day in those White Temple Shoes. It did not match any thing. He looked out of place. But it is an interesting memory.